Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Dear Comic Art Fan,

This weekend HeroesCon celebrates its 30th anniversary! Founder Shelton Drum and his team have consistently run one of the best and most fun conventions in the country with a guestlist that any promoter would envy, so this milestone is certainly well-earned. The Saturday night auction is always one of the highlights of the weekend and this year is sure to be special. Artist and CAF member Stephane Roux has contributed a truly unique item with the first casting of a Princess Warrior statue he has sculpted. Bid high!

A little about myself; happily married and a mother of three beautiful, intelligent girls, who happen to be huge original fans as well. A New Jersey native I now make my home in Florida; love the beach! My gallery represents art my husband and I both collect. The first comic I read was the Green Arrow: Longbow Hunter series by Mike Grell; loved it! I'm a huge fan of the early nineties art revolution. So much talent came out of that decade that breathed new life into the industry of comics.

2. Which piece in your gallery is your favorite?

It’s difficult to pick just one piece as my favorite. They each have a story about them that is special to me or my husband. It would probably be the Paolo and Francesca piece by Barry Windsor-Smith. We own a remarked Cygnus portfolio by BWS, and have had it for over twenty years. I have always loved the Paolo/Francesca plate from that portfolio. It was a huge surprise for me when my husband got it for my 40th birthday a few months ago. When I opened it for my birthday, I never in a million years thought it was the original. I thought he took the plate from our portfolio and framed it. When he told me it was the original, I almost fainted!

3. How long have you been collecting comic art and what prompted you to start?

Collecting comic art has been a journey I have shared with my husband for almost twenty years. My husband used to own a comic book store in the early nineties and we frequented the comic book shows together. We were at one of Fred Greenburg's shows in New York City, we took a break from our vendor tables and headed to artists alley to get some books signed for the store. That is when we happen to stop at the Homage Studios table, and while we perused through the latest original comic art of X-Men #4 my husband said, "Hey, that page is the first Omega Red appearance, 380 bucks, let's buy it." That simple. The rest is history!

4. How do you display/store your collection at home?

Most of our art is framed and displayed throughout our house. In our kids entertainment room, we have all our cool nineties art hanging. In our dining room we have all of our "Studio" artists works hanging. You stroll into our living room, and we have a wall exclusive to Alan Lee. My husband will hang all his 'nudie' works, like Simon Bisley, Milo Manara, and some Heavy Metal work in his office/study.

5. What are your top five most wanted original pages or commissions?

I don't really have a top five 'most wanted'. I can definitely tell you that "A Young Knight," published in Barry Smith's Cygnus Portfolio, is a piece that I would love to have. I have no clue who owns it. As for comic art, I have always loved the Uncanny X-Men #258 cover by Jim Lee and Scott Williams. Wolverine's ferocity in that piece is undeniable, just a great example by those two geniuses. Finally, I would have to say that if Scott Dunbier ever wanted to sell the cover to Marvel Comics Presents #85, in my opinion Sam Kieth's best cover in the series, I would humbly oblige him.